From 1st April 2016 Hazardous Waste Regulations are set to change which will affect all businesses that produce, manage or handle hazardous waste.
What are the changes?
There are two key changes to the regulations:
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Premises registration
Under current regulations any premises producing 500kg or more of hazardous waste per year must register their premises with the Environment Agency. From 1st April 2016 premises in England will no longer need to register their premises with the Environment Agency. -
Consignment note changes
To accommodate the removal of premises registration, the format of the consignment note code which appears on every consignment note, will change from 1st April 2016. For waste produced in England, the first six characters of the consignment note code, which is currently the premises registration number must be replaced by the first six letters or numbers (not symbols) of the business name. The producer should ensure consistent use of the organisation name.
These changes only apply to England, premises in Wales should continue to register with Natural Resources Wales.
SIC code
The requirement for the SIC code on the consignment note will also change as of 1st April 2016. Currently SIC 2003, SIC 2007 or NACE is accepted on consignment notes. The change in regulations from 1st April 2016 specifies that SIC 2007 is used on all consignment notes which matches the legal requirements for waste transfer notes (for non-hazardous waste).
How does this affect our customers?
Nothing changes until 1st April 2016. Where 500kg or more of hazardous waste is produced, collected or removed from premises before 1st April 2016, the premises must be registered with the Environment Agency and the unique registration number will continue to be used on consignment notes.
From 1st April 2016 registration will no longer be required for premises producing hazardous waste regardless of the amount hazardous waste produced. All consignment notes for hazardous waste produced from 1st April 2016 must use the new consignment note code format.
The change is being implemented as part of the Smarter Environmental Review (SERR) and detailed guidance will be available on www.gov.uk from 1st April 2016. The HSE website contains a link to a useful FAQs document about the regulation changes which can be access here.
